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Formed around core duo Coby Batty and Paul Watson who handle vocal and guitar duties, GriefBirds have plied their trade and shared a stage with such luminaries as Sparklehorse and David Lowery. Describing their sound as 'avant pop' the largely acoustic setting is unfettered by Linkous-like atmospherics, instead GriefBirds operate in a clean-cut, nostalgia-tinged fashion, equal parts Calexico and Roy Orbison. Every word is delivered with elocution-lesson precision, brushed snare and stand-up bass adding a jazz-club dignity to the likes of Move Close and There is a Wolf. The result is a record that seems peculiarly out of time, a detached curiosity that lurks on the fringes of the alt.country, guilty by association.

Matt Dornan
October 2001

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